As urgent and relevant today as it ever was': The radical manifesto hidden in Georges Seurat's 1884 masterpiece
Georges Seurat's once-mocked painting Bathers at Asnières is both an "exquisite distillation of the very essence of summer" and "a modern wonder in the art of seeing".
By Kelly Grovier
Black Americans who are attempting to trace their roots can get help from the Smithsonian. The institute's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) offers free genealogy sessions, both in person and online, teaching people how to interpret census records, find useful sources of information, and more. Here's more from @Smithsonianmag's Tracy Scott Forson, who got answers about her own family history from an NMAAHC session.
#History #Culture #BlackHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #BHM #BlackMastodon @blackmastodon
A virtual tour of "Wouldn't It Be Nice", a contemporary art exhibition, shown as part of MK Fringe, went up on my YouTube today.
MK Fringe is an arts festival that runs alongside the main IF arts biennial cultural event in MIlton Keynes, UK.
As usual, it gives an opportunity to raise the profile of artists based in, or with links to, Milton Keynes.
See it here: https://www.youtube.com/@srfirehorseart/shorts
Library of Congress acquires only known lyrics sketch of 'Over the Rainbow'
By Chloe Veltman
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/25/nx-s1-5511391/library-of-congress-wizard-of-oz
Wizard of Oz at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/25089
People Matching Artworks: A Voyeur Finds Things That Fit At The Museum
For his project People Matching Artworks, Stefan Draschan watches as visitors to museums blend with the pictures they've stopped to look at.
8 Women Composers Who Shaped the Musical World
Discover eight women composers who have shaped the musical world and gave women in music a voice.
by Andrew Olsen
https://www.thecollector.com/women-composers-you-should-know/
Musicians at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/543
The Baftas honoring the best films of 2023 will take place Sunday. Since the first ceremony in 1949, no Black women have won the award for best actress. This story from Variety underscores the considerable work that remains regarding the UK’s “persistent issue with embracing diverse performers.” https://flip.it/8mI8jb
#Culture #Entertainment #Baftas, #Equality #Race #UnitedKingdom
British comedian Michael McIntyre has a bit in which he claims that any English word can be used to describe being drunk. Now, two German linguists have tested the claim. "It is highly surprising that drunkonyms are still under-researched from a linguistic perspective," the authors wrote in their new paper, which was published in the Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association. @arstechnica's @JenLucPiquant has the TL;DR.
The original research paper lists 546 synonyms for drunkenness. We want to know which of these four did NOT appear.
#Culture #BritishCulture #Drinking #Food #Alcohol #Research #Comedy
In 1939, the Dongs, a Chinese American family, could not find a house to rent in Coronado, Calif., because of racially restrictive housing laws. Emma and Gus Thompson, a Black couple, allowed the family to rent and later buy their home. Now, the Dongs have sold that house, and are donating $5 million to Black college students. They are also working to have San Diego State University's Black Resource Center named after Emma and Gus, who was born into slavery in Kentucky. Here's more from NBC News.
#History #Culture #BlackHistory #AAPIHistory #BlackMastodon @blackmastodon @histodons #California
The trailer for Season 2 of the 5AM StoryTalk Podcast has dropped! I’m ridiculously proud of the guest list I’ve curated for us to try to make sense of the 21st century together – where we’ve been, where we’ve ended up, and where we’re going – all through the lens of art. Find out who’s joining me next and hear about the upgrades coming to this podcast. I'd love to have you as a listener!
#culture #art #writing #screenwriting #film #movies #books #writinglife
Leonardo da Vinci: Renaissance Artist, Inventor… and Wedding Planner?
by Verity Babbs
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-bites-leonardo-da-vinci-wedding-planner-2667830
Da Vinci at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1629
Vegan cheese has a horrible reputation, but engineer Magi Richani, founder of Nobell Foods in San Francisco, and microbiologist Morgan Mitchell, creator of Green Goddess Fromagerie in Guelph, Ontario, say they've nailed it. The Walrus's Nicole Schmidt looked into why it's so tricky to develop dairy-free cheese, and tried a few. It's still a topic of discussion whether you can call a non-dairy item "cheese." What do you reckon?
#Food #Cheese #Culture #Vegan #PlantBased #FoodScience #Science
Anne Shakespeare: Toward a Biography
Let’s check in with Anne Shakespeare, née Hathaway, about whom so little is known.
By: Matthew Wills
King James I and the Macbeth Witches
The ever-pragmatic Shakespeare added witches to the Scottish play to please his new patron, King James I of England.
By: Emily Zarevich
Macbeth at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1533
Today, we're beginning to federate a selection of publishers based in Germany and the U.K. We've also introduced @FlipboardDE, a new profile for the Mastodon community in Germany. In the first test, we are partnering with 21 publishers to federate their profiles and Magazines. Follow the profile to see all the stories they are posting on Flipboard, or topically curated Magazines to get coverage on specific areas of interest. Here's a blogpost that explains more.
https://flipboard.medium.com/flipboard-begins-federation-in-europe-b7e2ba3651d3
#Flipboard #ActivityPub #Federation #Fediverse #Germany #Deutschland #UnitedKingdom #News #Tech #Culture #Art #Politics #MastodonMigration #Mastodon #OpenSocialWeb
”Dress Rebelling Against Gender (DRAG). We’re not making fun of any specific gender, we are hitting on #gender itself.”
Unlocked at my #Patreon: My interview with Raemonn James, aka the #drag queen Hermajestie the Hung. https://www.patreon.com/posts/100612676
”I do drag is because it's an illustration of what total human liberation would look like.”
Unlocked bonus content on my #Patreon: This excerpt from my interview with the #drag queen Hermajestie the Hung, on the philosophy of drag and #gender, as well as a response to a common criticism of drag: https://www.patreon.com/posts/100612676
Ahead of Sunday night's final episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," everyone's favorite curmudgeon, Larry David, took part in a Tribeca conversation about the iconic HBO series, the secret to its success, and if its ending will double as a do-over years after the roundly criticized “Seinfeld” finale. “Yeah, like I care,” David replied to an audience member who asked if this was a shot at redemption. IndieWire has more: https://flip.it/Td6iE_
#Culture #Entertainment #CurbYourEnthusiasm #LarryDavid #Seinfeld
Beyoncé has millions of fans the world over, and she can add a massive admirer to the list — Sir Paul McCartney. The former Beatles frontman says Beyoncé's cover of “Blackbird” reinforces the song’s civil rights message, “and would urge anyone who has not heard it yet to check it out.” Read more from Entertainment Weekly: https://flip.it/DhfrOf
#Culture #Music #Entertainment #Beyonce #PaulMcCartney #TheBeatles
Imagine Conan O’Brien red-cheeked, sweating and drooling, looking crazed with his face smeared with hot sauce. The comedian, writer and TV host seized the moment on a recent episode of “Hot Ones,” the popular YouTube series in which the host, Sean Evans, invites a celebrity to eat chicken wings smothered with hot sauce. It can be a painful experience. NPR’s Glen Weldon, asks, was O’Brien the show’s best guest ever? Read about and watch O’Brien’s spicy performance. https://flip.it/sN4mRH
#Culture #Entertainment #ConanO'Brien #HotOnes
According to Vox, it's impossible to be neutral on Taylor Swift because the discourse surrounding her is so pervasive. We've added to the chatter by curating a @Flipboard Storyboard about the arrival of her 11th studio album, "Tortured Poets Department," and we also want to know: How do you feel about Swift?
#Music #NewMusic #TaylorSwift #PopCulture #Culture
Once considered taboo due to the mere suggestion that a couple was having premarital sex, cohabitation before marriage is now the norm. “If nursery rhymes are clues to how couples live their lives, ‘first comes love, then comes marriage’ is sorely outdated,” Allie Volpe writes for Vox. Read more about this cultural trend and dive into the question of whether living together before marriage is good for the relationship. https://flip.it/o.Npuz
#Culture #Love #Marriage #Relationships
The colorful silk lanterns of Hoi An, Vietnam, illuminate the ancient streets with their mesmerizing hues, casting a magical glow over the city. Meticulously crafted by skilled artisans, are not merely decorative but carry deep cultural significance. Their vibrant colors symbolize joy, prosperity, and good fortune, making them an integral part of Hoi An's rich heritage.
The ART: https://rebeccaherranen.com/featured/lanterns-of-hoi-an-rebecca-herranen.html
#travel #Photography #buyintoart #culture #art #asia #wallart #mastoart #colorful #vietnam
Magic: The Gathering has come a long way since it debuted at Gen Con in 1993. Last year, it became a billion-dollar brand. The genius behind it, mathematician Richard Garfield, left Wizards of the Coast, Magic's publisher, shortly after it was sold to Hasbro in 1999 and has subsequently expressed an apparent disillusionment with what the game has become. Defector's Nick Zarzycki interviewed him about this, his perception of the existential threats to Magic, and why he left the company. [Story may be paywalled]
#Culture #Gaming #MagicTheGathering #TabletopGames #RichardGarfield #CardGames
In May, we reported on how an "anti-woke" energy tycoon had hijacked the #Texas State Historical Association. Now, hundreds of historians, students and educators are supporting the newly formed Alliance for Texas #History, dedicated to telling untold stories from our state. New from @josephinelee: https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-history-alliance-tsha/
